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tube benders

I would like to buy a tubing bender for the shop I work at but Im not sure wich way to go. the majority of the work I will be doing will be with 1" to 2" tube but it would be nice to be able to use it for smaller stuff as well. I have looked at the hossfeld but it would end up being out of my price range with all of the dies for it. I dont want to spend anymore that about $1000 for the whole setup.

Take a look at these. I have a hydraulic model 4 but if you don't mind bending manually for awhile you could get the model 3 and some dies for less than $1000.00 and add hydraulics later if you wish.http://www.tricktools.com/model_3_bender.htm

protools makes a good one. So does JD2. The model 3 as show in the post above is good. The manuel benders are about the same style so it is just a brand preference. I got the protools one because it was made out of thicker metal.(1/2" insteaed of 3/8").

bender

Originally Posted by ace4059

protools makes a good one. So does JD2. The model 3 as show in the post above is good. The manuel benders are about the same style so it is just a brand preference. I got the protools one because it was made out of thicker metal.(1/2" insteaed of 3/8").

I bought the American Bender version of the #2 Hossfeld (direct copy). The guy is good to deal with. I think the basic bender is about $800 and comes with tooling to do flat bar and solid square/round. I bought 1" square and round dies for about $200ish each. I am sure the web page is WWW.americanbender.com, or somthing close to that, google if its not. High quality, good support.
A

I like it. It bends the thinner stuff with no problem. i bent some 1.75" by .134" wall DOM tube with it and I had to have a cheater to do it. A friend did some 1.5" by .250" wall DOM tube with it. Now that was a little scarry. He used the tube for a track bar on his jeep.

So on the thinner stuff .125" wall and less it work great. But on the thicker stuff you kinda struggle with it for a full 90 degree bend.

As far as protools vs. the JD@.
The JD2 has a nicer handle but protools makes there out of thicker metal (the HD model)